MLS takes streaming service to ESPN Plus

MLS takes streaming service to ESPN Plus

North America’s Major League Soccer has said it will move its MLS Live out-of-market streaming package to ESPN Plus, the new OTT service being launched by US sports broadcaster ESPN.

The announcement is set to lead to significant cost savings for MLS fans. The League said MLS Live will be one of the featured sports offerings on ESPN Plus, which will be available for $4.99 (€4) per month.

The full season package for MLS Live cost $79.99 last year and fans who take up ESPN Plus will also be offered an array of additional sports content.

This will include hundreds of MLB baseball and NHL ice hockey games, PGA Tour golf, college basketball and American football, both live and on demand.

Between the start of the 2018 MLS season on March 3 and the launch of ESPN Plus this spring, the League said MLS Live will be available to fans for free via MLSsoccer.com, the official MLS App and on Apple TV and Roku. It added that details on out-of-market streaming in Canada will be announced at a later date.

Plans for the new ESPN service were first revealed in 2016 after parent company Walt Disney confirmed an initial investment in BAMTech, the video technology business of MLB Advanced Media, the interactive media arm of Major League Baseball.

In August, Walt Disney agreed to acquire a majority shareholding in BAMTech, using the announcement to confirm that its ESPN-branded video-streaming service would launch in early 2018, with a new Disney-branded direct-to-consumer entertainment streaming service starting in 2019.

Walt Disney Company chief executive Bob Iger has said ESPN’s new OTT service is set to utilise a business model similar to that of Apple’s music service, iTunes, as further plans were revealed concerning the platform.